Thursday, 13 July 2017

Set in Hull, the UK City of Culture – a publisher’s nightmare author

Syrup TrapCity, due out in August 2017, is set in the UK in the northern port of Hull. It opens as Hull’s City of
Culture year dawns. But in order for it to be published in that same City of
Culture year I had to write it in advance. In the summer of 2016 I was writing about
the winter that was yet to come, studying long-range forecasts.

(Please, no snow. Why not? Think Poirot and mobile
phones)

From the start, I nursed an ambition (kept from
my publisher) to grab the manuscript back out of production at the
last minute to add something iconic that marked Hull’s birth as UK City of
Culture. A publisher’s nightmare, the author who insists on last minute
changes.

Nonetheless, I intended doing it, but what would it
be? I wasn’t going to bend the plot. I just wanted that iconic
something-or-other in there. It would have to happen early in the year, so as to
disrupt, as opposed to kill dead, the production of the book.

Blade was a 75 metre long, 25 tonne
rotor blade; the world’s largest, handmade
fibreglass component, and one of the first made at the Siemens
factory in Hull. On the night of January 7th, it was transported secretly in an
incredible feat of logistics and engineering, to be installed in the town
centre bisecting Queen Victoria Square, reaching from Savile Street to Carr
Lane, rising from street level (where pedestrians could run their hands over
its smooth skin) to a height of over 5.5 metres at its tip, allowing
double-decker buses to travel beneath.

The only dilemma for me was whose story
should intersect with the Blade’s epic journey? Someone needed to spot that
giant convoy in the small hours and wonder about it for a moment. Annie maybe;
she tends to be out and about at night. Or restaurateur, Meriç, who would
officially disapprove of the disruption and secretly delight in the extra
publicity. It could be head waiter, Yağız, out trying to track Annie. Perhaps
Ayaan and Cari Ahmed could come across it whilst out for a romantic stroll late
that night. It might even be Max Corder striding the city streets as he checks
his many and varied investments.

To decide who would have the job, I
checked to see who was where, and who would be best in the role. I expected to
have many options. I’ll bet those engineers thought they would have options
too. But much in the way that Blade would fit one way, and one way only, in
Queen Victoria Square, it turned out that Blade would fit one way, and one
way only, in Syrup Trap City.

What was my lone option? Sorry, no
spoilers. It'll be out soon. Read the book.